The Swedish fashion giant H&M has quietly started a giant digital project known by the code name P12. The plan is to sell branded clothes online at discount prices, according to sources of Breakit.
There are already agreements in place with some 60 brands and in-house H&M describes the new platform as “The style and dealhunting paradise”. The team behind the project is located in an anonymous office building north of Stockholm. An entire floor has been rented and houses around 100 employees, Breakit estimates. According to H&M’s internal information the plan is to launch the platform in mid-April.
H&M and its CEO and major shareholder Karl-Johan Persson has recently been under a lot of pressure. Two weeks before Christmas mr. Persson delivered a dissapointing fourth quarter report - sales fell by 2 percent during the fourth quarter. An important explanation is that the fast fashion giant keeps losing digital market shares.
Karl-Johan Persson is now doing everything to convince investors that H&M has a digital strategy that will lead the company back on the right track again. The capital market day in early February is of great importance as H&M has promised to give more information about its digital efforts. Karl-Johan Persson will most likely reveal the launch of the new concept “P12”.
Nils Vinge, Head of Investor Relations at H&M, has declined to comment on this story with the following explanation:
“We always have several new projects in progress and recently launched Arket. For natural reasons we never talk about these projects before they are launched so I have no comments”.
You can find the swedish version of the article here.